At 8 a.m. on May 3, the Rev. Daniel F. Sullivan celebrated Mass.
He’s done it thousands of times before.
But this one was different.
It was the anniversary of the day he was ordained as a priest 79 years ago.
The 94-year-old Sullivan said Mass in front of his peers in the chapel at the Bishop Timothy J. Lyne Retirement Home for Priests in Palos Park. He did it seated because “of some difficulty standing on my feet a long time.” He is the oldest resident at the facility.
Six days later, the place he has lived since 2016 celebrated its 25th anniversary. A small ceremony Saturday marked the occasion.
When Sullivan was ordained, Monsignor Rich Hynes was living in New Jersey and wasn’t even 1 year old. Hynes is now 79 and the vicar of the senior priests at Lyne.
In one chapter of his long resume, Hynes was the pastor of St. John of the Cross in Western Springs and more than a quarter of a century ago he visited the Lyne building.
“A couple of friends and I came over to look at the place before it even had a roof,” Hynes said. “I never thought I would end up living here at the time. But as retirement was in the air, I said ‘this is the place for me.’”
Three and a half years ago, he moved in and has enjoyed it.
“I get three meals a day, there is Wi-Fi, air conditioning, heat and I don’t have to buy food,” Hynes said.
The Rev. Stan Rataj coordinated the event and said he is happy that Lyne, who died in 2013
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, was able to see his idea come to fruition,“A long time ago, Bishop Timothy Lyne had a dream,” Rataj said. “It was a dream of building a retirement home where priests can retire in peace and quiet and comfort.”
Rataj said the dream started to become a reality in 1999, and the cornerstone was placed in 2000. Retired priests started moving into the facility in 2001.
Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago Robert Fedek was born in Poland and has travelled over the years and stressed the importance of feeling at home no matter where one lives.
He was on hand to deliver some prayer and inspiring words about the facility.
“I know how important it is for wherever God sends you, you make it a home,” he said. “What makes a home is people who live with you and share the daily bread at the table and who laugh and cry with you and you dream together.
“And I hope that in the last 25 years, that priests who had the privilege to live in this house found a new home in their later stage of life.”
Palos Park Mayor Nicole Milovich-Walters said she is happy the Lyne home is in her community.
“It’s nice to see that these priests are being helped after so many years of them helping people,” Milovich-Walters said.
And the mayor hopes to help the priests out a little this summer by inviting them to the village’s new fitness court to spend some time exercising.
The Lyne facility, run by the Archdiocese of Chicago, can accommodate 18 priests. There is community living, private rooms, dining services, housekeeping, laundry service, spiritual support, a fitness center and a nurse.
Paula Waters, the Archdiocese communications officer, was a volunteer when the facility first opened.
“This is a beautiful place,” she said. “It’s wonderful. It’s accommodating.”
Sullivan, who said he delivered the Daily Southtown when he was young, can laugh today about a merry mixup early in his residency.
He said that two years before he arrived, there was another priest named Daniel J. Sullivan there, but was moved to a nursing facility next door owned at the time by Catholic Charities.
Daniel J. Sullivan died on August, 2017, and Daniel F. Sullivan’s photo was accidentally used on obituaries and funeral notices.
“There were people who saw me walking around and thought I resurrected from the dead,” Daniel F. said with a smile.
But he is still alive and well and appreciates being able to live at Lyne.
“I like the fellowship here,” he said. “And I admire and pray for my younger retired priests as they go out and help the parishes close by.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.